What is the evidence for Isabel (__) Rigby/Rigben Breck Fisher being a Prescott?

Question

Isabel's LNAB is given as Prescott, but no parents are listed and no sources are cited. A comment on the profile states "When all freely available sources are considered, it is most evident that Isabel was born Prescott" - that sounds like it was lifted from somewhere.

NEHGR 151:182 declines to provide a maiden name for Isabel, referencing her as "Isabel (__) (Rigby) (Breck)". Anderson's Great Migration doesn't mention Isabel and doesn't profile any of her husbands directly, but in a mention of her last husband, Anthony Fisher, Anderson cites the article in NEHGR 151, for whatever that's worth.

If there are sources for this LNAB claim, let's get them on there. Otherwise I think she should be an Unknown with Prescott as an Unproven OLN.

Comments

Yes, 31 is later than average for a first marriage back in those days. 

You also asked how far is it from Standish, UK to Wigan, UK, both in Lancashire. 

18 min (4.7 mi) via A49 

or about 7.6 km

Answer 1

Resurrecting this old post.  I've been researching Edward Breck (Bricke), husband of Isabel (Prescott?) Rigby Breck Fisher for the Puritan Great Migration Project,  wondering is Edward is eligible for PGM.  (and yes he is and I will add the project box soon.)

However, I'm not convinced that Edward's 2nd wife's LNAB was Prescott.  NEHGR "Edward Breck's Baptismal Record and Identification of his Daughter Blake" says her LNAB is unknown ​See here: https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/new-england-historical-and-genealogical-register/image?pageName=180&volumeId=12159

It's interesting to note that Edward Breck (by his 1st wife) had several children baptized at Prescott, Lancashire.  Could that have been the origin of the name?  Someone trying to find a last name, and just settling on that one since there actually was a Isabel Prescott born?  But where is the research that she was married to these 3 men?

 

 

 

Answer 2

Isabel Prescott

England Births and Christenings

Name: Isabel Prescott

Gender: Female

Christening Date: 26 Feb 1608

Christening Place: STANDISH,LANCASHIRE,ENGLAND

Father's Name: Richard Prescott

Indexing Project (Batch) Number: P00547-1 , System Origin: England-ODM , GS Film number: 0844803 IT 4

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England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975

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Citing this Record

"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JMKZ-NVM : accessed 21 May 2015), Isabel Prescott, 26 Feb 1608; citing STANDISH,LANCASHIRE,ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 0844803 IT 4.

Comments

How do we know that this Isabel is the same person who married Rigby/Rigben, Breck, and Fisher?

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Her spouse is shown as John Rigby.

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Her spouse is shown? Where? Not seeing it. (I clicked through the link also.)

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The name of her first spouse, John Rigby, is shown in the gray rectangle in the first answer, right below the parish, Wigan, where the wedding to Isabelle Prescott took place on May 30, 1639 as shown in the WikiTree profile. It's the same church as in the profile, All Saints, Lancashire, England.

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Frank, sorry to be so slow on this, but I'm very confused. The grey box you're referring to is an answer by Doug with a marriage record it. You had posted a separate answer, earlier, with only a baptism. I was asking you to explain how YOUR baptism record is evidence for the identity of the Isabel who married Rigby/Rigben/Breck/Fisher?

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I think that Dougs answer based on original data from Wigan Anglican Parish Registers, Wigan Archives Services, Wigan, England, offers some validity that holds weight.

She did marry a Rigby and it had been suggested that her maiden name was Prescott.

It's not clear to me that Anderson's Great Migration work left no stone unturned with respect to naming every person who participated in the Great Migration.

I was unable to find anything on Mr. Breck or Anthony Fisher in looking for them at familysearch.org .

I hope you have a good Memorial Day weekend.

Frank

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Two things:

1. How close is Standish to Wigan? (I see they both are in Lancashire.)

2. For that era, Age 31 is rather old for a first marriage.

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commented below to more recent answer

Answer 3

Name:	Isabell Prescott
Gender:	Female
Event Type:	Marriage
Marriage Date:	30 May 1639
Marriage Place:	Wigan, All Saints, Lancashire, England
Parish as it Appears:	Wigan
Spouse:	John Rigby
Spouse Gender:	Male

Original data: Wigan Anglican Parish Registers. Wigan Archives Services, Wigan, England

Comments

But is this the immigrant family?

Answer 4

Isabel Prescott England Births and Christenings Name: Isabel Prescott Gender: Female Christening Date: 26 Feb 1608 Christening Place: STANDISH,LANCASHIRE,ENGLAND Father's Name: Richard Prescott Indexing Project (Batch) Number: P00547-1 , System Origin: England-ODM , GS Film number: 0844803 IT 4 View in Family Tree Review Attachments No image available England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 Search collection About this collection Citing this Record "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JMKZ-NVM : accessed 21 May 2015), Isabel Prescott, 26 Feb 1608; citing STANDISH,LANCASHIRE,ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 0844803 IT 4.

Answer 5

You've probably seen this:

Genealogy of the Breck family : descended from Edward of Dorchester and his brothers in America : with an appendix of additional biographical and historical matter, obituary notices, letters, etc., and armorial bearings : and a complete index by Samuel Breck (1834 - 1918) (1889) ppgs 11 - 13 Lists marriages, children

https://archive.org/details/genealogyofbreck00brec

It does not give her surname but it does details her spouces and children.

Answer 6

I have just come across several instances that seem to indicate Isabel PRESCOTT, bap, 26 Feb 1607, dau of Rici, was the wife of John Rigby.

Please check the "Lancashire, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records" at ancestry.com. There is a record of Margaret, dau of "Rici et Doretheae" bap. 20 Apr 1606 Standish, followed by the record above for Isabel.

Further, in the "White Family Quarterly, Volumes 1-3," is mention of a Richard Prescott of Dalton, Lanc., who mentions his brother-in-law John Rigby, in his will of 23 Jun 1619, proved 5 Jul 1619.

This is followed by the 21 Oct 1631 will of Richard Prescott, Standish, Lanc., wherein he mentions "youngest dau. Isabel Prescott."

Obviously, there's more research to do, but this may help clarify the identity of John Rigby's wife Isabel.

Comments

But how confirm that this is the emigrant couple ?

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The image of the marriage  is on ancestry

Marriages May 1639

''30 John Rigby of Standish P'sh and Isabelle Prescott of this''

Wigan Archives Services; Wigan, England; Film Number: 1; Reference Numbers: D/P24/1/1, Wigan All Saints parish register image 159.

There is also a text only record of the marriage licence.

Text: 22 May [1639] ''John Rigby of Gathurst, Parish of Standish, Lanc., and Isabel Prescot, Parish of Wigan, Lanc., Spinster. Bondsman, Edward R''

Book Marton Marriages. Addenda Et Corrigenda. (Marriage) 

Collection:Cheshire: Chester - Marriage Licenses Granted within the Archdeaconry of Chester in the Diocese of Chester, 1639-1644

(Note there was another Isabelle Prescott who married  a  Humfrey Crochley in Wigan in 1633. There is also the death of an Isabelle Rigby wife of John in West Haughton, Deane, just 10 miles away  in 1702 but this isn't an uncommon name)

There was a John Rigby of  Gathurst signing documents  in the 1660s.

Gathurst is in Shevington and we find that Richard Prescott bought land from the Digby family in 1595 so a marriage  alliance between these families is possible

The Vic County History  "The descent of the Rigby manor or estate in Shevington is uncertain. A settlement of lands in Shevington and Wigan was in 1592 made by Edward Rigby and Dorothy his wife; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 54, m. 59. Three years later Richard Prescot purchased a messuage and land in the township from Robert Rigby, John his son and Ellen wife of John; ibid. bdle. 57, m. 109. Edward Rigby died in 1635 holding a messuage and land in Shevington of Lord Morley and Mounteagle as of the honour of Hornby; his son and heir John was twenty-seven years old; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xxvii, no. 28. From this it would seem that the Mounteagle manor had not been sold. John Rigby of Shevington, 'a wellaffected Protestant,' occurs in 1651; Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 2757."

'Townships: Shevington', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1911), pp. 199-203. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol6/pp199-203 [accessed 17 December 2016].

And probably irrelevant but interesting is there is a school in Gathurst Road Wigan named St John Rigby school. Another John Rigby was a Catholic martyr in 1600. He appears to have come from a  very wealthy Rigby family from Harrock Hall in the Wigan area . I would not be surprised to find the above Rigbys are a cadet branch (edited kept writing Digby not Rigby!)

Edit 

 I can't see that this John Rigby is likely to be a John Rigby born in Devon. This lot were firmly ensconced in the Wigan area ie at the other end of the country (note, today at least the village is Buckland Brewer, Devon not Buckland, Brower, Devon) .There were a lot of Lancashire Rigbys but there was certainly a John still 'of Gathurst' after this couple were said to have left.

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Great stuff as always, Helen. The things you find!

But I still don't see how we confirm that this documented married couple is the same as the couple who emigrated to New England. How do we confirm that?

Answer 7

The following information was posted to both John Rigby's and Isabel Prescott's pages. It shows the Rigby-Prescott marriage did not involve John Rigby of Dorchester.

"The assumption has been made that she was Isabel Prescott, who married a John Rigby in Wigan, Lancashire, England, on 30 May 1639. John was living in Standish parish at the time. John and Isabel had two children: Dorothy, baptized on 15 October 1640, and Edward, baptized on 10 February 1641(/2), both in Standish parish.(St. Wilfrid, Standish, parish register images, FindmyPast database online.) The Dorchester baptism record of Elizabeth Rigby, assumed to have been the child of John Rigby, says it was on 3 March 1637/8, well before the Rigby-Prescott marriage. ("Records of the First Church at Dorchester, in New England, 1636-1734" (Boston, MA: 1891), 151, "Elizabeth Rigby 1 3 1638" (Julian calendar style, translates to 3 March 1637/8 based on the context of the records)). These records show that John and Isabel (Prescott) Rigby were a different couple than the one who immigrated to New England.